Jehovah’s Witnesses in Costa Rica

Key Information

2016 Jehovah’s Witness average publishers: 29,973. Congregations: 437. Baptisms: 754. Memorial attendance: 70,324. Preaching hours: 6.5 million.

Background

Costa Rica came to European awareness with its discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1502. Although evidence of human occupation by hunter-gatherers in the Turrialba Valley of Costa Rica dates to prehistoric times, the land was sparsely populated at the time of European contact. Today approximately 94% of the population is white or of mixed European and native descent. The land was designated as Costa Rica or “rich coast” either by Columbus himself, who reported that the natives possessed rich gold jewelry on his voyage of 1502, or by conquistador Gil González Dávila two decades later. In addition to colonists from Spain, Costa Rica was also populated by some immigrants from the Caribbean islands. Costa Rica became a Spanish colony constituting the southern province of Guatemala under the Viceroyalty of New Spain,...